The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-01-01

And Phebe would have made the lit
tie house pretty and cheerful if she
could have had her way. She would
have dressed the windows in white mus
lin curtains and made Il fire in the parlor
CRATE every afternoon, and invited a
ncighbor in to tea occasionally, and had
''things like other people,"as she said.
But Roxana ~quenched all these plans
with that n word, ECONOMY and
sometimes there is not a hatefullcr
word in the English language. Or, she
said:
''Who cares Il fig what other people
do? Wen do as we please"
In fact, there was no end to the ways
in which they tried each other. The
stout sister wanted Il cool room, and
the thin required a high tempera-
ture. In winter they shivered and
sweltered by turns. The stove hampers
were shut and the window opened;
then the hampers were opened and the
| window shut. And in summer Roxana
set all the windows and doors wide
open. end Phebe went about with a
| shawl on her shoulders. trying to steer
clear Of draughts. And one said sharp
things about snaily people who had no
blood, and the other retorted unamia-
bly, about fat people who had too much
blood. Each in turn occupied the
place of housekeeper. Roxana liked
highly-seasoned food and Phebe did
not; so, one week she made WY faces
over cloves and cinnamon and ginger
in the pumpkin pies, and pepper and
sage in the turkey dressing, while the
next week RoXana declared that every
thing was as tastcless as sawdust.
There vas one thing that Roxana did
that wns almost unhearable to poor
Phebe. She would insist, the week she
held sway, on putting the cream pitcher
and the butter plate and the cold chick
en- outside on the ledge of the north
window of the dining-room, which
faced the street, that they might keep
cool until tea. In vain Phebe remon-
strated that it appeared untidy to pass
ers-by. Roxana only replied with pro-
yoking calmness:
''Let EN- look the other way. then; l
can't run my feet off for looks
And Phebe groaned over her sisters
dress. The same old black and white
calico that she put on in the morning
did duty all day. Not even a collar re-
lieved the grimy effect of the faded
dress against the swarthy neck. Mean
while, Phebe, in her afternoon dress-an
old brown merino, patched and darned
and spongedand pressed, with her brown
hair >moothed, and a bit of soft cotton
lace at her neck-looked like u lady.
Sometimes she ventured to say:
You ought to look respectable when
people come in, RoXana. You'd be a
a good looking woman if you were fixed
up a little
Then Roxana would cast a gray eye
over her glasses at her sister, and re-
peat grimly:
Favor is deceitful and beauty is
VAIN
1t had long been Roxana's custom to
take Il retrospective view of the old
year, and to write out a set of %resolu-
tons for the coming one. AS the new
year was just about to dawn, what bet
ter time for it than this quiet Sabbath
evening! Good old Deacon Powell had
his children this practice. 1t
was not his fault that they thought it
more Importance to make resolutions
than to practice them. Roxana had
gone bravely through the exercise each
year much as she had learned her SPELL
ING lesson or knit her 'stint," as some
thing to be gotten over; and the habit
with her through life.
That night, after she had read two
in the Old Testament and one
in the New, she went to the secretary
drawer and brought out the old book
she had written in once a year for
a long time. She bent over it, writing
|aboriously in a large, bold hand and
phraseology. 1t was II general
statement of unworthincss, thanks
for the mercies of the year, re-
rrets that she was an Improbable
servant, and desiring that in the COM
NC year she might live more to His
glory.
When she had finished, she began
over the leaves, looking curl
'usly at the first pages, written when )
was Il young woman. She went
Trough the book, stopping here and
here to call up memories. Here was
he record of many years much the
as that she had just written. She
rad felt well satisfied with herself a few
minutes before, and she was not given
o introspection. But now, there stole |